CHA members share how their organizations are working to meet the goals of our ministry's new collective initiative to confront racism, Confronting Racism to Achieve Health Equity. The live 30-minute conversations take place once a month through a Zoom meeting.

The disproportionate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities of color and the events leading to the racial justice protests of the past summer shone a bright light on the devastating effects that systemic racism has always had on the lives of many people in this country. While legal segregation has been abolished, its legacy is still present in the institutions that form the foundations of our society – media, government, education, housing, health care and our political and legal systems. It can be hard to identify and understand systemic racism given its pervasive nature, but its impacts are seen in today's social and economic inequities.

Titled "We Are Called," the Confronting Racism by Achieving Health Equity pledge was developed at member request and approved by the CHA Board of Trustees, is the Catholic health ministry's effort to recognize and address the effects of systemic racism and how they impact health. The initiative calls on CHA members to work in four areas: 1) COVID-19 response; 2) Putting Our House in Order; 3) Building Just and Right Community Relationships; 4) Advocating for Policies that Eliminate Health Disparities and Systemic Racism. The initiative will help the ministry take coordinated action, with others committed to this goal, on the work needed to truly dismantle racism and create a society where all can flourish.